“giffgaff – the mobile network run by you”, according to their website. It’s a great concept whereby you can earn cash when you  bring others to giffgaff. The idea is appealing especially if you own an unlocked mobile phone and don’t want to be tied to a contract and/or use more data/texts than actual mobile calls. They offer some cool packages which are very visible on their website under the name “goodybags“. (see below – images from the giffgaff.com website).

So naturally this is something that I would consider, as I am “more” a data/text user than a phone caller.

So I signed up for the FREE sim. The sim card arrived in a timely fashion in the post in a very simple piece of paper folded in a way to look like an envelope as to not waste paper. (very green indeed, very clever). Once unfolded there was a small credit card size piece of plastic holding the sim card. It was wrapped in a cardboard sheath that showed off their logo and tag-line on the front and on the back the same price schemes for the different goodybags. So far so good.

I went to the giffgaff.com website and clicked on the Activate SIM button and was prompted for sim card code and various personal details and then it showed the following screen, which has intrigued me since this is the FIRST TIME that it tells you what you can do:

1) What would you like to buy? (I want to buy a giffgaff £10 goodybag).

• Buy credit (why would I want to do that if the £10 goodybag already contains 100 minutes)?
  or
• Buy credit & goodybag (I don’t want credit when the £10 goodybag already contains credit for 100 minutes).

Which brings me back to my subject that giffgaff is misleading us. No where on the site does it say you have to purchase credit before you take on a goodybag.

Even “This bit’s important…” doesn’t state that clearly enough.

edited 07/06/2010: After some clarification in my comment area from other people, I am happy to strike out the paragraph below because I have misunderstood giffgaff on what they are offering and giffgaff themselves have confirmed the clarity of the process is not very clear and will make the necessary changes to resolve this.

In a nutshell I could have purchased “credit only”, e.g. £10 and with that money purchase a £10 goodybag. If I managed to use the 100 minutes up then I would have to top up by buying more credit.

Activating with a goodybag would make more sense as there are less processes to follow. Let us wait and see if giffgaff make the process clearer.

The whole concept is a good deal if you have “only the goodybag” as shown on their website and on the packaging of the SIM card, but a rip off if one has to add “a top-up” ON TOP of the goodybag. I say “rip off” because the only saving grace between the package I am on now and giffgaff is the fact that I am tied into a contract for a year, other than that my current package with T-Mobile gives me 500 minutes, 600 text and unlimited Internet (1GB limit as per acceptable use policy) and all for £15/month with the option to bolt on extras per month, which is a better deal than giffgaff are offering.

edited 07/06/2010: I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Perhaps I have totally misunderstood giffgaff. I have posted a similar question on twitter to @giffgaff and you are welcome to comment on my post or in twitter: @lookatbowen

note: screenshots were taken using my own screen grabbing software from the giffgaff.com website and are used as reference purposes only.

I recently upgraded my T-Mobile contract to a Sim Only deal where by I get X amount of minutes and X amount of voice calls and unlimited internet usage.  I took this option because I bought my phone outright.

T-Mobile were very quick to point out that the “unlimited internet usage” was not actually unlimited but instead capped at 1GB.

How ridiculous?

Ridiculous for many reasons as the phone I recently purchased is totally geared towards the Internet and for social networking (Skype, Gtalk, MSN, Facebook, Twitter, has a full internet browser, access to everything internet related). The Nokia N900 is a mini computer or tablet device with a phone function.

The Nokia N900 is not the only phone offering such features, there are many other phone makes (Blackberry, Apple, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG etc) and models offering fast download speeds (7.2MBit, 10MBit).

T-Mobile bragged that they were streaks ahead of the other mobile ISP’s because they offered 1GB instead of 500MB. All very well, but that is a pathetic statement to make!

I consider myself a heavy Internet data user on my mobile and by that I mean:

1. The Nokia N900 is a multi-tasking device, therefore it is possible to open multiple web sites in the real internet browser, which is similar to what you would find on your desktop PC, and it is able to load up all the graphics, video and sounds that are normally present on a website quickly, which obviously uses a lot of data. I regularly browse;
   1. BBC, Sky News, Engadget, Wired, Netvibes, Youtube, Wilkinsonsworld, Crunchvictims, FT, CMAVision, Gmail,  etc.
2. On top of that I would have open Facebook, an online scrabble game,
3. Multiple Twitter accounts,
4. Last.FM scrobbler, or Shoutcast music streaming, or E-Book reader,
5. I am downloading a few podcasts on a daily basis,
6. Reading and replying to my various Email accounts,
7. Instant Messaging through Skype, MSN, GTalk and Facebook (all possible in one place on the N900),
8. Blogging on my various websites,

I had a look at my data usage after a week of using the Nokia N900 and it’s up at 450MB. (Doh! after a week). There is no way on earth the 1GB limit is going to last me. I will reach that cap by the end of next week!

T-Mobile already offer broadband via a USB Dongle. They are quite generous in the amount one can download with their USB dongle (£ 10/mth – 4.5 Mb/s  – 3 Gb cap). – Check out wifi.co.uk

What they need to realize is that with the new mobile technology coming out with bigger and better devices with lovely large screens and qwerty keyboards, that devices such as the N900 are similar too and / or if not better than a netbook or a laptop with a USB Dongle, since they incorporate the internet technology in the device.

For a Sim Only contract with unlimited Internet at a cost of £15/mth, one would expect T-Mobile to offer a larger download limit!

Come on T-Mobile, please review your Interet download policy!

Arriva runs this bus service called Fastrack in Kent. Since we dont live near the station, the only choice is walking down a disgusting road full of air pollution or risking life or limb around all the works that litter the pavements.

The service Its is not exactly FAST either, as their name suggests. We often wait an extra 10 to 15 minutes because the bus either missed its slot or didnt bother to turn up.

They recently put up the price of their tickets and for a local bus service outside of London, their prices are ridiculously expensive. £1.60 for a single and £2.60 for a return. It is daylight robbery.

The most obvious thing that Arriva or Fastrack have failed to notice, is that their fancy large bus is not full. If they reduced the prices perhaps more local folk would use the service.

Posted by Wordmobi

FIGHTING FOR A FAIR DEAL FOR NORTH KENT COMMUTERS
Sign the petition at: campaigns.libdems.org.uk/northkentcommuters

That is what the Liberal Democrats are doing for our community and for once I support their cause. At least someone is standing up to Southeastern Railways (our crappy train company) who are putting up the rail fares by 10.7% in 2009, which is totally ridiculous considering their service is SHIT!

Our station, which was replaced with a brand new building is incomplete. It doesn’t have any facilities such as toilets, chairs along the platform. It has been poorly designed with little or no protection from the wind, cold or rain. There are meant to be lifts, but they are blocked up. They keep making promises that things will be sorted out, but they are way past their deadline. The station has been a disaster area for over six months and there is no sign of a completion date.  The trains are always late or cancelled for no apparent reasons. Most times there is little or no communication. The service is just dire and South Eastern Railways have a massive cheek to put up the fares, especially when everything is rocketing in price around us.

KentNews.co.uk – Train passengers to face massive price increases.

Three days running now our £161 per month train operator (South Eastern) has been running dire services in the morning. On Monday, Jo and I stood on the platform at the usual time of 7:30am waiting for the Cannon Street / Charing Cross train to arrive. By the number of disgruntled people on the platform, it was obvious a few trains had already been delayed or cancelled.

By 8am, 6 possible train times had been delayed, but not once was there an announcement explaining why the train was delayed or cancelled. Finally at 8:13am, we are told there was a problem in Swanscombe with a broken down train, and that there was no estimate as to when the train would arrive. (lovely innit?)

Today, we caught our trains on time, but it took 15 minutes to get to Dartford, a 2 mile trip that normally takes 5 minutes. Did the idiot driver come on air and explain to the passengers what was up? (Do bears fart in the forest)?

The journey time into Charing Cross is normally 40 minutes, and today it took an hour and a half. We must have stopped about 15 times along the way and not once did the driver come on air and explain the reason for the delay or all the stoppages. The very least I was expecting was some sort of an apology (as lame as that sounds) from the driver when we arrived at the station. (Not a peep from the bastard), and even more disturbing was the lack of apology from the Charing Cross station master. Normally they say something as well. Not today.

I bet if I didn’t pay for my ticket I would be quickly fined, yet South Eastern Trains can get away with such poor service.

What a morning it has been so far? It took us almost 2 hours to drive into work because it there was a lot of FOG. This is Great Britain, where it rains, snows and gets foggy and where all means of transport comes to a grinding halt because of the weather. Doh! Suffice to say, we didn’t see an accident, or silly driving, so what was holding up the traffic so badily? Anyway, I dropped Jo off at work and headed up to Sidcup Auto Centre to take my car in for it’s 1st service. They told me three weeks ago on the phone that it would be an hour. So I had basically planned my morning around that hour. When I said I would wait around, the lady says "Nah!, there is no point, the service will take at least 4 hours", which when I queried it, the lady said, "that is how long it takes"….. Just Grrrreat. And oh by the way, it’s going to cost in the region of £200. – Are these guys on the herb or what?